learning to play guitar better... with $0

[Dingo]

I was a classical guitar major in college, took a year of jazz, and have been playing rock since college. I totally resisted learning other people's rock stuff for about 15 years. However, the BESTand FASTEST thing I have found to improve my lead playing is to figure out solo's I like. Get some software like transcribe (there is a 30 day demo) and go to town. Transcribe will allow you to slow down the song to the point where you can deal with it. This is good in a couple of ways. Prevents an undue amount of frustration and allows you to think about what you're playing. I figured out the solo for highway to hell and discovered it was essentially a bunch of licks strung together. Probably obvious to everyone else but a revelation for me. Plus I love it so it's fun. I would also buy a metronome and use it to play scales. Start with the tempo at 40 then play eigth notes, then triplets, the sixteenths, then quintuplets (five notes), then (sextuplets)six notes. If the tempo is too fast, slow it down. Make sure every note it super clean. I could go on but I'll spare us all.

[mingus2112]

i know you seem fed up with books. . .but try this:

www.soundconnection.com
that was a teacher i studied with for years. . .the books are out of date as far as examples go (think late 80's early 90s. . .guitar god era), but the knowledge is PRICELESS. these books are currently out of print (and the website hasn't been updated in years (obviously), but i think you'd get a lot from them.

volume 4 is GREAT. . .you'd probably do good with both lead books. . .maybe music theory?

-James

[llmonty]

wing,

there are some great comments here. i'll try to add to them. it sounds to me that you have some facility on the guitar but struggle to make improvements. i won't go into the technical things about scales and chords etc, but I feel the number one reason for you not getting any better might be habit. it is human nature to stick to what is familiar - fingerings, chords, lines, speed etc. - so anything that forces you do do something different will yield great results.

i believe that each of us has an internal meter that dictates the speed in which we play. i tend to have a fairly slow speed. using a metronome to make me play out of this natural rhythm really helps. Or working on someone else's songs - helps me experiment with new chord positions, unfamiliar voicings etc. - or playing bass helps me see the function of the guitar in a different way. recording does this too.

early on i learned all the different scales in a way that links them all together so you can glide all over the board. this is great, but i have 2 main problems with it - 1) being about to do it in more than 2-3 keys (b/c human nature has me leaning on what is familiar) and 2) and this is the hardest one - the best players hear what they are going to play in their head before they play it - and are just executing. this is the holy grail.

anyhow - that is all i have to say about that.

[stewie]

if you want to be all over the neck learn scales.
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~desm ... index.html

[comfortstarr]

I'd say, scraping some dough for one or two lessons over a month would be useful. I've found that lessons do what someone here already mentioned, pry me out of my comfort zone. I took a couple from some young kid in b'klyn last winter. We basically wrote out all the different fingerings and positioning on the neck for maj7/min7 chords and the appropriate scales to go with them. This was really helpful as I never used those chords before (though they're quite ubiquitous in tons of music). The idea of moving them around the neck, with the chord root being higher or lower than the lowest note in the chord is cool and fun.

As far as who to take a lesson with, I think there are two approaches: take a lesson from a jazz or classical player (all the more to fuck with your head) or take a lesson from one of those people who can just flat out play rock guitar. One of the first lessons I ever took was with Chris Osgood, he was the guitar player in the Suicide Commandos. They were sort of the uber-minneapolis punk rock band in the late 70s. I'd learned all these proper chords and things and he was like: "um... sure, but why don't you just play these three notes and let your thumb damp the E" or "um... just tune the whole guitar to an A chord, stick your finger across all the strings and hammer on here an here occasionally." As if my magic, Keith Richards appeared, briefly.

There are some good sites on the net though, Richard Lloyd's site is pretty good.

[getreel]

it seems though no matter how often i've been doing it, i haven't seen great improvement.

I've been playing almost 20 years now and still for years thought I wasn't getting any better. I think you get used to how you play and what your limitations are and don't notice the smaller improvements that actaully are happening as you learn and practice. Then one day, I was sitting there playing and it finally hit me: I'd actually grown to be pretty damn good on guitar but never realized how much I'd improved because I lived with my playing. Something to think about....

[junokane]

For me, playing the guitar has never been an end in itself. It's always been a means - a means of writing MY songs...

The thing to do, I think, is to practice the strumming side of it, I reckon. That is, IF you can do the kinds of chords I was talking about. Along with those chords I'd also stress the importance of finding your way around the 'natural', 'open' chords - the ones where your hand stays right at the bottom of the neck. Like A minor, C major, D minor and major, E minor and major. Etc. And try and suss out in your mind which notes, precisely, are making these chords what they are - i.e. which notes makes them minor and major. I think that's really important, honestly.

And bear in mind too (although you'll already know this fine well) that a lot of the most effective solos and noodling are VERY simple.

I really think that a lot of the guitar is about the right hand (if you're right handed) not the left hand. I know the left hand gets all the applause - hey, look how quick s/he went up and down that scale!! Etc. But honestly, learning what the right hand (the strumming, picking aspect) should be doing is so crucial it's not true.

Same for me regarding how I use guitar. I have no real desire to learn note-for-note Iron Maiden tunes. I like to learn songs I want to play, but mostly I want to use guitar as a tool for getting out songs in my head. Personally, the only times when I feel inadequate (even though I'm not a great player) are when I can't translate what I want to write into actual music. That, and sometimes there's a song I want to learn and I'm just not good enough to physically do the fretting.

I also think that simple is usually better, which is good, because it justifies my guitar playng suckiness. There are exceptions, and I guess I always wish I had the skills to be more complex, even if I rarely felt the need to use them. Really, though, I think working within limitations brings out more creativity.

The right hand is super important, especially for the really basic player. I sit around and play the same 4-chord progression for an hour, just doing an alternating bass picking and strumming, just to practice hitting the right bass notes. The relationship between left and right hand, timing the fretting of a string with the moment you pick it, that's the kind of thing I try to improve on.

Regarding your question as to why learn others' songs: some folks have commented that you don't have to, just make up your own stuff, and that's certainly true. Personally, I learn others' songs because I like them and want to be able to play them. Also, by playing others' songs, you can soak up the knowledge of those songwriters by osmosis. Also, think of it like learning to cook: first you follow recipes, and them once you learn your way around ingredients and methods, you can write your own.

Good thread.

[Catoogie]

Learning other peoples songs helps train your ears and turns you on to chord inversions, partial chords, etc... you normally wouldn't think of.

Basically it's like anything else you want to be good at, you have to spend a lot of time doing it. Listen to records and jam along and when you hear something on there you think sounds cool, take the time to figure out how they did it. It's all about the journey.

I've learned a ton of invaluable things learning other people's crappy songs for gigs I was doing. I'm talking original songs. I always end up learning something even after playing for 25 years. A way to shift from one phrase to another, a certain way to pre-bend a note etc.... And I'm keeping my listening skills in shape.

[No Wave Casio Kitsch]

5. Play for 15 minutes every day solid. Then up to 20, 30, etc. That's really all you need. Even a steady 45 minutes a week here and there is good, you know?

I'd like to echo Brian's sentiment because I can't recommend this enough. The one thing that has improved my playing more than anything else is simply playing every day. Even when I reaaaaaaallllly don't feel like doing it I try to pick up my guitar and play 10-15 minutes. Whether that's running scales or playing some song a couple times or whatever...it really helps.

The library can also help and it's free so why not use it, aye? Go pick up a chord book and learn some new stuff. Incorporate it into what you already know. It doesn't have to be some crazy jazz chord that takes 27 fingers to play. Just one you don't know...a variation on one you already know. At any rate, just try to have a good time while you're learning. That's the most important thing.

-Giahni

[takeout]

Learning other peoples songs helps train your ears and turns you on to chord inversions, partial chords, etc... you normally wouldn't think of.

Exactly. Training my ear is the single best thing I ever did for myself musically. It's invaluable for when I go play with other musicians for the first time; they're always amazed at how quickly I pick up their songs.

[Rick Hunter]

Hey wing,
Here is my big, "how I learned to play guitar" flashback. I was at a Sleep Over at a friends house. I didn't play at the time, but my friend did. Pretty much the whole night I played video games and he played nirvanna songs. I got really fucking bored and told him to teach me something easy. It was all down hill from there.
I allways thought that learning how to "figure things out" was really cool and I wanted to be good at that. So I tried to play everything I heard on the radio. Songs, commercials, whatever. I think that really trained my ear for pitch and keeping my shit in tune. It took me a long time to get good at that but it was way worth it.
My fingers were super slow so I did scales as much as possible to help get them up to speed and the whole scale thing is really cool too cause you learn alot about chord structure. 3rds, 5ths, 7ths, all that shit makes alot more sence when you are playing scales constantly. Probably the repatition. So yeah, play along with stuff, play alot and learn some scales. Not every scale, just the important ones (penatonic, major).

Rock.
justin

[kayagum]

Here are my 2 cents:

* Wing- I don't particularly feel that sorry for you. Drummers rag on me all the time for not "automatically" picking up rhythms in practice. I have to usually sit at home and practice the hell out of a rhythm sequence until I get it right (and sometimes, I need a recorded passage to help me). And I do it, even though it's not a natural strength of mine. You'll have to do the same thing for melodies and chord changes. Just shut up and practice- no short cuts. [End tough love rant]

* Why play with records? Because they're cruel and merciless. A recording (even with those newfangled Tascam boxes that lets you slow down and/or loop a piece) will not stop for you to figure out chord changes. And if you think that sucks, wait until you get a bandmate telling you that you can't change chords to save yourself. (For the record, even though I grew up playing classical piano, it wasn't until I sat down with REM's Chronic Town before I could play any decent chord changes on the guitar. And then, I sped it up and did that to Feelies and Woodentops records). Trust me, it works, and even a simple G-C-A chord change sequence is harder than it looks, especially when you do it fast and change the order at will.

* Playing and composing are 2 different things. Rarely do you get both. Throw in financial solvency, and you get the classic "Pick any two..." And even if you fancy yourself as a songwriter or composer, you do need to understand and even master different playing styles before you do your own thing. Otherwise your stuff sounds like bad copies of derivative styles. (Or, today's radio).

[yardleyone]

i recommend practicing to a metronome or click track. you don't have to be the best guitarist in the world to be enjoyable to listen to. But learning to play whatever it is your going to play well is important. I've encountered alot of gutarists that knew all the chords, scales, modes in the world, but really couldn't hold a solid tempo. Similiarly I've known some three chord strummers that kept it in the groove and were quite enjoyable to listen to. It's not necessarily what you play, it's how you play it.

[zoetrope]

Many players don't think about the way they transition from one chord to another. With open chords there are often one or two fingers that either stay put in the chord change or just slide up or down. Look for these "anchors". Practice very possible change between two chords, and find the easy part of the transition. It will make your chord changes much smoother.

By the way, I sympathize with the point of your initial post. What I've found in the past is when I hit a dead patch in progress, I switch instruments for a while (like a week, a month maybe) then come back. This will jar your thinking and get you out of the rut. When you come back to the first instrument (guitar in this case) you'll find you approach it a little differently and your playing is a little better. That's been my experience anyway, especially going from sax to guitar and back.

[bad_dude_69]

wing, i've found myself in the same position many times. i've been playing for about ten years and i have nothing close to a conventional style -- which has both been a blessing and a curse, sometimes fostering moments of bliss and also inadequacy. the best advice i can give is to get inspired. take the same aproach as you do with recording and drumming and develop your own style, do what sounds good to you and move on from there. cooperate with your guitar and bond with it.

a big moment for me was popping in stanley jordan's instructional video. his style is a mini cosmos away from mine, but seeing this guy's crazy passion just made me realize how great playing an instrument can be. bootsy collins started out by playing a sears 6-string strung with bass strings. i'm trying to say that if you feel affection towards something, you will naturally become comfortable with it and work with it and progress.

maybe lay down some tricky beats and make your own song of the week, guitar and all. this is about all i have to contribute, but i bet you can do it.